Tropical Storm - DK1 Read online

  Kerry nodded. “Sure.”

  “Bring a pitcher of iced tea and an appetizer combo to start,” the executive instructed the waitress. “Then come back in a few minutes.” She Tropical Storm 77

  waited for the girl to leave. “I figured that was pretty safe. I’ve never eaten here, but I’ve heard good things about the food.”

  Kerry gave in, and decided to just make it up with an extra hour of riding tomorrow. “Yeah, it all looks good.” She settled happily on a spicy pasta dish and closed the menu, glancing across at Dar with a fading sense of trepidation. It was hard to believe she’d ever been intimidated by the taller woman, not sitting here across from her here in a fake jungle with soft lights that framed Dar’s angular profile nicely.

  Her face is very interesting, Kerry thought. It was almost always moving, little muscles shifting under her skin like she was watching things. Her hands moved a lot too, playing with the menu, with the silverware, and with the tiny drink-table tents that announced specials. Kerry wondered if Dar wasn’t a little nervous or uncomfortable, because she certainly was, but it was hard to tell. Maybe the woman just naturally fidgeted. She seemed the restless type.

  In addition to the swelling and bruising across her right knuckles, her hands had a few little scars on them, and she wasn’t wearing any rings. They were fairly good-sized, with long fingers and short, unpolished nails. As someone else who used a keyboard all day, Kerry could appreciate that, and in fact, unless she was going out, she kept hers the same way.

  Dar’s wrists were thicker in proportion to her own, though, and as the executive moved, even in the low light she could see the shift of muscles just under her skin. It was an impression of strength that intrigued the younger woman, as it was so at odds with the corporate mentality she’d been expecting. Vice presidents were pasty white men who sat in plush offices all day and smoked cigars. They weren’t…well, they weren’t Dar Roberts.

  “Excuse me?” Kerry looked up, realizing Dar had spoken to her. “I’m sorry. I missed that?”

  Dar cocked her head and regarded her. “What I said was, you can expect a few weeks where you’ll need to settle in and get used to things.”

  Kerry nodded. “All right, I kind of thought that was the case. Besides, I need a week to put someone in my position. I know I was thinking of Ray, but this all happened so fast, I didn’t have a chance to talk to him about anything.”

  Dar nodded. “Good. Spend a day or two there clearing things up while I get paperwork and a place for you to sit straightened out at the office. Maria is going to kill me for dumping a new hire on her plate first thing on a Monday morning.”

  Kerry wasn’t sure what response was required for this information, so she just pursed her lips into a hesitant smile.

  “Maria is my secretary,” Dar explained, seeing the expression.

  “Oh.” The green eyes examined the table, which was covered in a tropical shower-curtain material. “She’s going to be upset, huh?”

  “Just for a minute,” the dark-haired woman replied. “Listen, are you sure you want to do this?”

  The question had come out of the blue, and caused Kerry to jerk her head up and meet Dar’s eyes. “I…” She fell silent. “I’m sure,” she said after a moment. “I really am.”

  Dar exhaled. “This isn’t an easy job. You have to put up with a lot of 78 Melissa Good stress and a lot of bullshit. I’m not an easy person to be around, or get along with. I want you to know that up front.” Her voice was serious. “You’re a nice kid, and I don’t want you to come back at me two weeks from now saying it’s too much for you.”

  Kerry straightened and looked her in the eye, feeling herself wanting to rise to the challenge apparent in Dar’s words. “How nice can I be if I called you a son of a bitch?” she inquired, seeing that sudden, impish glint appear across from her and as quickly disappear. “And I’m not a kid, thanks. I’m twenty-seven.”

  Dar studied her openly. “You hated what happened to your company.

  Why do you want to become a part of that?” she asked. “You know what I do, Kerry. You saw the raw side of it.”

  Kerry studied her back. “I like you.”

  Both of Dar’s dark brows rose. “Excuse me?” Her voice rose in some surprise.

  Kerry shrugged. “I like you. I think you’re smart, and I think I can learn a lot from you.” She paused. “Where I was, that was as high as I was going. I stopped learning things. It was more like my job was maintaining the status quo. There were new accounts, sure, but I didn’t get to direct that, only provide the support and solutions. This is something a lot different.”

  Dar propped her chin up on a fist and regarded her. “I see.”

  “My turn.” Kerry took a sip of the iced tea their server put down and blinked at the tray of appetizers. “Mmm.” She picked up a piece of coconut chicken and nibbled it before she continued. “Why me?”

  “Hmm?” Dar had taken a stuffed egg roll and was chewing it. Now she looked up and into Kerry’s eyes with slightly raised eyebrows.

  A shrug. “A hundred and ten thousand people to choose from, why me?”

  Dar stopped eating and flashed her a smile. “I like you.” A hint of humor appeared. “Not one of the other hundred and ten thousand would have had the guts to call me a son of a bitch or tell me to go to hell.”

  “Oh.” Kerry blushed. “So that was a plus?”

  “I think you’ve got potential, and you aren’t dragging around a lot of baggage I have to get rid of before you’ll be useful,” Dar continued, in a reflective tone. “Besides, you’re probably good with people, which is something I’m lousy at.” She bit into the egg roll and munched it.

  “Mmm. Not always,” Kerry replied quietly.

  Dar glanced up. “You’re not good with people?” Her voice was surprised.

  “You’re not always bad with them,” the blonde corrected, smiling a little at the momentary break in her new boss’s composure. “But I know what you mean. I do get along with people most of the time. I like working out problems, finding different solutions without going head to head, that kind of thing.”

  Dar chuckled. “I’d rather break the heads and have done with it.”

  Kerry gently touched the bruised hand laying on the table. “So I see.” She removed her fingers when she saw Dar’s flinch at the touch. “Sorry, is it sore?”

  “A little.” Dar flexed her hand a bit. “Must have banged it on the car.”

  Tropical Storm 79

  Kerry just looked at her, a hint of a smile playing around her lips. “I had to pay extra for the screaming Mustang model, too. It makes a great car alarm,” she drawled. “I especially like the option that makes it holler ‘Jesus Christ’ in Spanish.”

  Dar held her blank look for a moment more, then surrendered, relaxing into a smile that took five years off her age. “Ah. So my cover is blown, is that it?” She gave her hand a sheepish glance. “I was trying to figure out what horse’s-ass tale I was going to tell the office tomorrow.”

  Kerry laughed. “To be honest, I didn’t even realize what was going on until I thought about it last night. I was too shook up before that.” She took a chicken wing and dipped it into a small dish of blue cheese dressing. “It was kind of like living the movie of the week, you know? Here I am, trapped in the bowels of Miami, getting attacked by street punks, when along comes this hero, beating them all up and chasing them away like dogs with their tails caught betw…” She’d looked up and found pale blue eyes staring at her from a very serious face as a hand covered hers with startling warmth. “What?”

  Dar leaned forward. “Don’t call me that. I’ve known far too many people who really were.” Her voice went a touch deeper. “They just didn’t want any witnesses, so they took off.”

  Kerry gazed at her. “Well, you might know many heroes, but I only know one.” Her chin lifted a trifle. “But I won’t mention it if it bothers you.” The dim lighting made it hard to tell, but the blonde woman thought i
t was possible her new boss was blushing, just a little.

  The waitress arrived, much to both of their relief. “Um, the spicy pasta.”

  Kerry didn’t try to pronounce the actual name of it.

  Dar cleared her throat. “I’ll have the salmon steak.”

  The waitress scribbled. “Vegetables or garlic mashed potatoes?”

  “Potatoes, please,” Dar replied. “And some more tea.”

  They were both silent after she left, and Kerry took the opportunity to sample some of the rest of the appetizers. She waited until her companion did the same, then finally looked up. “So, tell me about those contracts. I’d at least like to give the TCP/IP group a heads up. I know you said it was the IRS, but…”

  Dar seemed relieved at the change in subject. “Oh, right. Well, it’s their master website. They set up a consumer site to provide tax help and all the forms support. It gets about forty thousand hits a day. The concerns involve mostly bandwidth issues and doc server glitches.”

  “Mmm.” Kerry absorbed this.

  “The contract specifies hardware and software. You’ll have resources in the local area to dispatch for the hardware. I think we contract out to NCR in that area.”

  “Sounds good.” The blonde woman looked intrigued. “What about the other one?”

  “Um…” Dar’s brow creased. “Oh yeah. The ATM contract for transmission services for the Navy.” She paused. “And the network support for that and for their ship-to-shore microwave network transmissions.”

  Kerry blinked. “Wow. The WAN guys are going to freak out.” She laughed a little. “They were telling me only last month they were getting 80 Melissa Good bored.” She relaxed a little and so did Dar. “That’ll mean some extra training.”

  Dar nodded. “I’ll give you the number of the training division in Houston. Give them a call and set up what you need. Depending on how many people you have, either they’ll go out there, or Houston will send a trainer down here.” They continued discussing details until dinner arrived, then talk slowed down as they paid attention to their food.

  Kerry enjoyed her pasta and watched curiously as her companion methodically decimated the large salmon steak into neat squares, pairing each square with a forkful of mashed potatoes as she ate it. “That smells great.”

  “It is,” Dar replied, after swallowing. “It’s honey and brown sugar glazed.” She hesitated, then casually dropped a square on Kerry’s plate.

  “Here.”

  Kerry obligingly tried it. “Wow, that is good.” She nudged a bit of the chicken from her pasta over on to her companion’s dish. “Fair is fair.”

  She chewed the offering. “Wow.” Dar chuckled. “ You like stuff spicy, huh?”

  “Mmm-hmm,” Kerry agreed. “It’s what I like best about living here.

  Everything tastes different, it’s not all the same.” She took a sip of tea. “Do you like Thai food?”

  “Anything with peanuts,” the executive replied with a grin. “There’s a good Thai restaurant right off US 1 near Dadeland. They make really good chicken curry.”

  Kerry’s eyes lit up. “Really? And I never found it? W—” The “we” almost escaped, but she clamped her jaw shut on it. We should go there? What the heck was I thinking? This is my new boss, who certainly had better things to do than roam around Miami finding new Thai restaurants for me. “Thanks for telling me about it.”

  “Sure.” Dar smiled at her. “How’d it go with your window?”

  “Oh, fine. Fine. It’s done already,” Kerry assured her, then she dug in a pocket. “Oh yeah. Jerry found this when he was cleaning the glass up. Is it yours?” She held up a woodgrain-cased pen.

  Dar blinked. “Didn’t even realize I lost that.” She reached over and claimed it. “Thanks.” She looked up as the waitress returned. “We’re done, yes. I’d like a large cappuccino, and, um…” Her eyes went to Kerry’s face, watching the blonde woman’s brows lift as a dessert tray went by. “Hey, share a cheesecake with me?”

  Kerry’s eyes widened, then she sighed, and patted her stomach. “I shouldn’t.”

  Dar just waited, sure of her quarry. She was beginning to gather an understanding about her new associate. It was a habit of hers, to try and figure out all the angles, and predict what people would do, and so far, Kerry Stuart was proving quite a challenge.

  But not on this subject. Dar enjoyed indulging herself, and she suspected Kerry leaned in that direction as well, however unwilling she appeared on the face of it. “C’mon.”

  “Oh well, okay.” She capitulated, giving Dar a little wry shrug. “Guess I’ll just put in extra time on the Rollerblades.” And how had the mildly unnerving Dar Roberts known she liked cheesecake? She decided to try Tropical Storm 81

  another slightly more personal question, though she noticed Dar stiffened up when she’d done so before. “Have you ever tried that?”

  “Cheesecake or Rollerblades?” Dar chuckled softly. “Both. I like one, and I’m not too fond of the other. I made close acquaintance with a tree last time I used them.” She glanced towards the fake waterfall, which was expelling another cloud of mist. “I stick to running.” She noticed Kerry’s eyes on the bare, subtly muscular arms emerging from her shirt. “And a little working out.” The sea green orbs lifted to hers, and Dar felt uncharacteristically off-balance. Something about the intensity, maybe? “So, you’re all ready for tomorrow? Did personnel forward you an electronic packet of forms for all the people you’ll be converting?”

  Kerry watched as the server put down an enormous piece of cheesecake covered with chocolate, which was flanked by two bananas, equally doused.

  She sucked in a breath. “Ooo.” Then she realized Dar had asked her a question. “Uh, yes. I got a ton of mail from them, including a three-page instruction list from someone named Mariana, who said something really funny like I was the new duckling?” She waited for Dar to pick up one of the two forks the server offered, then picked up her own and tried a bite. “Wow. I could get to like that way too much.”

  “Duckling, huh?” Dar murmured as she worked a chunk off and nibbled it. “Mariana is our Director of Personnel. She’ll help you get everything straightened out.” She took another bite, enjoying the smooth, rich taste. “She has a unique sense of humor.”

  Is that a company requirement? Kerry wondered, but didn’t reply.

  They finished up and sauntered through the shop in the front of the restaurant, filled with rainforest-inspired merchandise ranging from T-shirts to tiny rubber geckos to Beanie Babies in the shape of toucans and monkeys.

  Kerry fingered a tiny Beanie salamander in an interesting shade of greenish blue, then put it down with a sigh. “I have enough stuff on my desk.”

  Dar, who had been examining the large cockatoo overhead, turned but didn’t say anything. They walked out and through the mostly closed mall, the stores shut up tight and only a thin strain of music playing. “Where are you parked?”

  “Around by the food court,” Kerry answered as she pushed the door open and held it. The thick, moist air hit her, carrying a heavy scent of rain.

  “Well, thank you, Dar. I really appreciate you coming up here.”

  The darkness outside hid most of the taller woman’s expression. “My car’s back here; I’ll give you a ride around to the front,” she stated. “And don’t worry about it. I was glad to get a chance to pick up this stuff.” She hefted her bag.

  Kerry followed her out into the dark lot, stretching her legs a little to keep up. The breeze off the nearby ocean was warm and sultry and she sighed. “It’s hard to get used to the heat sometimes.”

  A soft chuckle answered her. “That’s why we all stay inside,” Dar replied. “C’mon, it’s over here, under that ledge.”

  Moving shadows surrounded them—cleaners, and workmen, and other, darker, figures. The parking lot was large and mostly empty, and she could see several small groups of what looked like teenagers, lit cigarettes and low 82 Melissa Good laughter coming f
rom them.

  Eyes watched as they crossed the gray surface, and unconsciously, Kerry moved a little closer to her tall companion. “Kinda creepy out here.”

  Dar glanced down. “Just act like you own the place. I guarantee, none of these kids’ll come near you,” she advised.

  Kerry watched as the group they were approaching eyed Dar, then nudged over a little out of her way. “I’ll try to keep that in mind,” she murmured, feeling quite, quite safe.

  The air was thick with humidity, but she took a deep breath of it, tasting a hint of the sea on the edges from the nearby Intercoastal Waterway. She walked alongside Dar in silence, but it wasn’t really the uncomfortable kind.

  “How’s your hand doing?” Kerry asked, as they crossed the expanse of mostly empty tarmac.

  “It’s all right,” Dar said. “Wonder what those guys were really after? You didn’t have a purse on the seat.”

  Kerry was silent for a few steps. “No, I don’t usually carry one.” She glanced up and caught Dar watching her, the faintly raised eyebrow visible even in the shadows. “Just one of those things,” she added, with a half shrug.

  “Mmm.” Dar’s eyebrows twitched a little. “Me either,” she said in a casual tone. “Interesting coincidence.”

  Kerry absorbed that as the night became friendlier around her, surprised when she idly wished she’d found a parking spot a lot further out.

  Interesting coincidence.

  “WHERE HAVE YOU been?” Colleen’s voice came from the doorway, as Kerry finished carrying in her packages. “Ooo, I see bags from Macy’s.” She ducked inside and helped the blonde woman put the bundles down. “How’d it go?”

  Kerry sat down on her desk chair and folded her arms across her chest.

  “It was interesting. I got lots of stuff, as you can see, and…um, it was interesting.”

  Colleen folded her own arms. “Interesting? Your new boss offers to come over and help you shop for clothes, and you call this interesting? I call it mysteriously intriguing.” The redhead chuckled. “So, what’s she like when she’s not firing people or restructuring companies?”